Just a hug
by dayana82
Summary: Written for the just-kiss-her community on LJ. Prompt was ""It was just a hug. So what if his hugs tended toward full body contact and last more than a second or two and always absolutely required both arms. It was still just a hug. Wasn't it?" BeckerJess


**Title: **Just a hug

**Author:** little_profiler

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** Written for the just-kiss-her prompt "It was just a hug. So what if his hugs tended toward full body contact and last more than a second or two and always absolutely required both arms. It was still just a hug. Wasn't it?" made by hiddencait.

**Warnings:** none so far

**Author notes****:** At first, I really didn't know what to make of it. But then it hit me – actually, when I was working on another story. So, here you go. Again not beta-read.

"Okay, I'm asking you again," Lester said in his usual strict voice. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

Once again, Becker didn't say a word. He didn't even blink.

"All right," Lester said with a sigh. "In this case you don't leave me another choice. You're suspended from duty until further notice. That is until you finally tell me why you beat the hell out of one of your own men. You're dismissed."

Jess watched the scene from the ADD. She could see that Becker wasn't talking. And from the look on Lester's face she could tell that he wasn't happy about it.

She bit her lip when he left Lester's office. Should she ask him what had happened? Maybe he would tell her. On the other hand, he hadn't even told Connor or Abby, and he knew them much longer than he knew Jess.

He walked past her without saying a word. In fact, he didn't even look at her.

But Jess had never been someone who gave up easily. So she rushed after him and caught up with him just as he got into the elevator.

"Why didn't you talk to Lester?" she wanted to know.

"There's nothing to tell," he grumbled.

All right, he obviously didn't want to talk to her. But she wasn't going to admit defeat. Not without a fight. "Okay, then why don't you at least tell me?"

He looked at her gloomily, and then turned back staring into space.

Great. That went really well.

"You know, Lester might think suspending you helps making you talk, but you won't get rid of me that easily," she said stubbornly. "I'm going to nag you about it until you finally tell me what happened."

Becker just snorted.

"Oh, you think I can't do it?" This was just waking up the rebellious side of her. Jess stopped the elevator, leaning against the wall so that her body was blocking him from reaching the button. "Well, you won't leave this elevator until you finally tell me why you beat up Andy."

_Andy!_ He clenched his fists, but still refused to say anything. He just stared at the doors of the elevator knowing they wouldn't open anytime soon. He knew he wouldn't get out of this, Jess wouldn't let him.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, pursing her lips truculently and staring into space as well. She had time. But she knew that Becker had never been the most patient person on the planet.

"This is ridiculous," he grumbled after a while,

"Well, let's talk about your fight with Andy," she replied with a shrug.

"You know, you shouldn't call him Andy." The words had escaped his mouth before he was able to stop them.

Jess frowned at him. "Why not? He's nice."

He snorted. "No, he's not. Trust me, he might be a lot of things but he is _not_ nice."

"I like him," Jess insisted, her stubbornness breaking through again.

"You wouldn't if you knew how he's talking about you behind your back," he snarled. He really didn't want to tell her. She shouldn't know what some of the soldiers said about her. But he just couldn't stand that she thought of the worst of them as a _nice_ person.

Jess blinked at him, then her eyes widened in shock. "You… You beat him up because of… me?"

He took a deep breath, before saying, "The reason I got into this fight with Jenkins were the comments he made about you and how he… would like to discover what you wear underneath. He said some pretty nasty things I don't want to repeat."

She didn't answer, just looked at him almost in shock.

"I just… wanted to teach him manners," Becker mumbled. "No one should talk like that about a woman, least of all you."

"You hit him to defend me," she whispered, still staring at him in disbelief. "I think that's the cutest thing anyone has ever done for me." Before she could stop herself, she had thrown her arms around his neck to hug him.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body close against his, and closed his eyes. He had been sure she would be mad at him if she found out why he had fought against Jenkins. But obviously she wasn't.

Jess's heart started to beat faster. _Relax, Jess, it's just a hug,_ she reminded herself. Just like back then after she had defused the bomb. It was just a hug, among friends. Even though he tried his best to gain as much physical contact as possible. He even wrapped both his arms tightly around her middle just to pull her closer. And it lasted at least twenty seconds.

But it was still just a hug. It had been nothing more back then and it was nothing more right now. He was just hugging her back by courtesy.

Except for the fact that he refused to let go of her, maybe. He didn't even start the elevator again to get to the car park, even though now he could have reached the button without effort.

He just kept standing there holding her close; as close as humanly possible.

Her knees started trembling and her head was spinning. God, he smelled so good. And he felt even better. Strong, and hot, and like pure heaven. _Just a hug, Jess, it's just a hug!_ It still was just a hug, wasn't it?

And then it happened. After about a minute none of them had made a move to break free from the embrace, he placed a gentle, ever so light kiss to the crook of her neck.

Jess froze almost instantly. This wasn't happening. She had imagined it. His lips had just accidentally brushed her neck as he was pulling away.

But he wasn't. He was still holding her close. When she didn't complain about the first intimacy, Becker kissed her neck again, longer this time and with slightly more pressure.

She let out a gasp as her eyes fluttered shut. This was still just a hug, just a hug… where he started to kiss her neck.

When again she didn't complain or pull back, Becker felt encouraged to move to her cheek, placing light kisses on her skin as he moved closer towards her mouth. He stopped before he reached his target, pulling back slightly to look at her.

Jess opened her eyes when he suddenly stopped the intimate touches. Seeing the desire in his eyes, she licked her lips, and lowered her eyes to look at his.

Emboldened by her reaction, Becker leaned forward to capture her lips with his. She tasted sweet, of strawberries and cappuccino. He pulled her closer, so that their bodies were touching again.

This definitely wasn't just a hug. This was a _kiss_. They were standing in the elevator _kissing_ each other. In the elevator that – like the whole rest of the building – had CCTV.

She broke the kiss, panting, her eyes clouded with desire. "We… can't do this," she whispered.

He immediately let go of her, running a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No," she quickly interrupted him, a bit too loud obviously since he jumped. "No, I… I was talking about the CCTV. We… shouldn't do this _here_."

"Oh." Becker sighed with relief. "I thought… forget it."

They stood in the elevator, embarrassing silence spreading among them for a few moments. Surprisingly, it was Jess who first found her voice again.

"Thank you for defending me," she told him. "I just wish you had told Lester. Maybe then he would have suspended Jenkins instead of you."

"I… didn't want to discredit you," he said. "And I… didn't want you to know what this… guy said about you."

"I honestly don't care what A… Jenkins or anyone else thinks or says about me," she replied. "I only care what _you_ think about me."

He reached out to take her hand in his. "I'm thinking about asking you out for dinner," he admitted in a low voice.

She grinned at him, tilting her head a little as she pressed him, "Are you just thinking about it?"

He took another deep breath and gently squeezed her hand. "Jess, would you like to go out with me tonight?"

"I'd love to," she replied with a wide smile.

"I'll pick you up after you finished work," he told her.

Jess pressed the button for the ADD. "Now you'll go tell Lester why you got into a fight with Jenkins," she ordered. "I don't want to be the reason you get fired. Who's going to protect me from future predators and nasty comments when you're gone?"

He grinned, and put an arm around her shoulders. "You have a point there," he agreed, nodding, and leaning in to kiss her temple.

"You can pick me up after we both finished work." Jess smiled up at him, stealing a quick kiss from him. She would never again think that an embrace with so much physical contact was merely a hug.


End file.
